Key problem

POSSIBLE SPOILERS!!!!
(although I doubt it, you'll probably be more confused than when you started if you try to use this to play your game)
Background:
Loaded and played 2.5 games with 5.0.0 & CMF 5.0.2 build 11.17.06. First game played almost perfectly. Second game had a few bugs. I reported one (R & G respawning vanilla in Hommet after killing Gremag, no assassin encounter for this action.) The other I didn't mention becuase I wasn't certain when the bug occured. It happened when I returned from completing the Hickory mod. I noticed it when I returned to Brother Smyth and suddenly had a key to his new chest. AFAIK, no such key exists. From that point forward I had the key to every locked chest in the game. No big deal, right? Well, it also gave me the key to another new chest in the 4th lvl temple hallway, showing a blank looting screen when clicked on it, allowing no method of disarming it. This was bad, that trap didn't usually kill my mages... I worked around it and finished that game. I just scrolled up enough heal spells for my cleric to cast on the entire party every time I went thru until I got one of the node gems. I also had a problem with no spiders after killing Lareth, I had them the first time, but not in the other 1.5. These three problems were the reason I decided to uninstall all, delete all vestiges of directories, and start over installing everything up to the 5.0.3 CMF 12.17.06 build.

Here are my problem(s):
Major: As described above, I have a "key to everything" again. This time, my theif had managed to open Brother Smyth's chest before it came up. As with my older game, the glitch occured right after completing the Hickory mod. I was paying attention this time.
-I had no keys in my inventory when I went to Hickory Branch.
-I found two keys there.
--1st key: looted from half-orc commander with magic ax. Description is for a key found in the nodes for the vanilla version of TOEE "Small Gold Key, Key was pulled from the entrails of a giant rat. Deteriorated around edges from rat's digestive fluids, this leads you to believe that the key is not real gold and probably holds no value." [edit] reloaded savegames, tested keys individually, the 1st key was not the problem
--2nd key: looted from a red creature with horns and a chest nearby. List and description of key in my inventory only say "reserved". After getting this key, the chest picture changed from locked to key when hovering over it. This was the first key that actually opened anything for me in this game. [edit] reloaded savegames and tested keys individually, this (2nd) key is the one that caused the problem

Minor?:
After killing Lareth, spiders never came, although he called out a new name starting with the letter C (not the ogre) to come help him at the start of the battle. After re-installing, I did get the Brigand leader to finally escort me back to see Lareth without a battle. Are the spiders supposed to show up under any game condition that kills Lareth?
I think I remember reading a thread from someone having a similar key problem when I first started coming to this site in Nov '06. I can't find it now if it existed. I searched combinations of "hickory", "looting", with "key" and "bug", but search just disregards "bug" and "key". I've scanned 50+ threads for red (indicating search return) but did not find anything. Please help if you can.

[edit] added spoiler title
[edit] 1st key is actually key found in rat killed in tutorial, according to invensource.mes, key#10021

 

Ozzybrainz:

I've only gotten the spiders with Lareth after he tries to bargain his way out of me kicking his but, If I don't accept his offer he calls for Loth to protect him and the spiders appear 3 in the room adjacent to his and 2 in the hallway.
As for the key issues I hope someone can help you for I've never experienced it, (played thru 5.0.x many many times)

 

I have never had any problems with either of those keys or read/heard of others having issues with those keys.

 

@ Shinningted: It was great! Except for the "didn't usually kill my mages" part that it caused later in the temple. I can actually hear one of old DMs from when I played PnP chuckling. Would have worked out great as a curse in conjunction with the "magic ax".

Problem band-aid: I went to a previous save game and played through the mod taking the keys individually and returning to Brother Smythe's chest. Turns out it was the second key labeled "reserved" on the 2nd level of Hickory that is causing the problem. I can go back now and use "knock" to bypass this problem in my current game. It's just weird, that's all, especially since I comepletely uninstalled/reinstalled to try and fix this problem.

Thanks for the prompt responses, especially from the mod author.


:leaves forum on quest to find a live chicken for sacrficial purposes:

 

I experienced a similar problem as Ozzybrain. Once I went to Hickory Branch, I found myself with a key for every chest in the game.

A thought suddenly occurs to me. In recent run-throughs of the game, I and others have had issues with the lightning trap in the Temple and being unable to get the dialogue to disarm the trap. CtB looked into it, but couldn't replicate it. Ozzybrain also mentions this issue. I wonder if having this "skeleton key" is what's causing the problem.

 

As I said before, I just knocked the chest in lvl 2 Hickory to bypass this problem. Knowledge was the key(npi). Like Kalshane, I remembered reading a post about not being able to disarm the temple trap when it happenend to me. It could very well be a problem with my files, I'm unsure at this point and I'm trying to learn how to check this. The program has behaved the same way before and after reinstalls, deleting pycs, etc. It doesn't really cause a problem with my game now that I know what to do in my specific case. In case it comes up again for someone else, I capped some pics to document, see below:



If this is too big/shouldn't be here, etc. mods feel free to delete, or post it & I will.
I've completed this game, figured I'd post this before I delete the saves.

 

I've looked into this, and the only thing I can think of is that the key in question has an ID of 0. The chest itself doesn't have any specific key ID associated with it. It could just be that key ID 0 is a skeleton key that opens every lock in the game, and bypasses scripts that fire when you open things.

 

I would agree with you there Ted, except I checked the MOB and proto of that key and it's ID is 0. Perhaps the game just assumes it is 1 since 0 isn't on that list.